The Evergrowing Popularity of eSports

As a reminder, the 2013 League of Legends Season 3 World Championship had 32 million total viewers, while the 2013 NBA Finals Game 7 had only 26.3 million viewers (Hollist, 2015). Surprising as it is, it’s true that more people prefer watching computer games than basketball. There are many reasons that can explain the reasoning behind this.

Although eSports is the noun for competitive gaming, it is still a form of video game. Video games are often played as a form of escape – escape from real-world problems and real-life responsibilities. Although some games let you meet new friends and express your true self, the case for competitive games is different. “Different from collaborative virtual worlds environments, escapism in eSports is not about the social experience of slipping into avatars’ roles and becoming the virtual ‘other’ individuals would like to be; as a competitive activity, eSports… escapism is about gathering the capabilities of highly skilled avatars while immersing into the competitive virtual world in order to gain competitive advantage, which is an instrument that leads to power in the virtual. Consequently, individuals expose their true self through the way they behave in competitive virtual worlds acting as their virtual-self” (Weiss, 2013).

Figure 1: Collegiate eSports compared to collegiate basketball (Gregory, 2015)

In addition, height and weight of eSports players have little to no effect on performance. In any sport, you must be physically gifted to excel, such as being 6’5’’ in basketball to slam dunk. In eSports, literally anyone can become a professional with enough practice. As shown in Figure 1, the average collegiate gamer is exactly the average height and weight of a male, whereas the average NCAA player is 6’9’’ 229 lbs – a genetic gift from his parents. The phrase “practice makes perfect” applies to just about everyone in eSports.

With that said, the ability to become an eSports gamer is available to anyone as well. Aside from joining your collegiate team, there are several eSports sites that host their own sponsored online tournaments. “Competitive gaming is becoming easier to try for yourself. In June, Gfinity launched a new website, Gfinity.net, for people to do just that. It functions like a social network for gamers, staging online competitions daily and awarding £30,000 in prize money each month. ‘We provide a route into professional gaming if that’s what you want,’ says Wyatt. The company also aims to run large-scale gaming tournaments in sporting arenas every couple of months. ‘If it continues growing at the same rate, events like G3 will be the norm,’ says Wyatt” (Heaven, 2014). Anyone with the motivation can join these tournaments, which are great opportunities to gain exposure if you perform well.

Remember that the eSports industry is huge. “According to the 2008 Entertainment Software Association (ESA) report, nearly 270 million computers and video game consoles were sold within the US, generating close to $10 billion in 2007, and it is estimated that video games are a $20 billion industry in the US alone. The eSports industry is also booming in other countries like South Korea in that professional gaming teams have corporate sponsors (e.g., Samsung) and tens of thousands of spectators gather and cheer for their favorite teams to win… Although these numbers do not provide precise information in terms of how much of the entire game industry is specifically about eSports, it is clear that this emerging market segment produces billions of dollars and contributes economically to the growth of the sport industry as a whole” (Lee, 2011).

References

Gregory, S. (2015, April 6). Virtual World, Varsity Sport. Time, 185(12), 44-47.

Heaven, D. (2014, August 16). Rise and rise of esports. New Scientist, 223(2982), 17.

Hollist, K. E. (2015). TIME TO BE GROWN-UPS ABOUT VIDEO GAMING: THE RISING ESPORTS INDUSTRY AND THE NEED FOR REGULATION. ARIZONA LAW REVIEW, 57(3), 823-847.

Lee, D., & Schoenstedt, L. J. (2011, Fall). Comparison of eSports and Traditional Sports Consumption Motives [Abstract]. He ICHPER-SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport & Dance, 6(2), 39-44.

Weiss, T., & Schiele, S. (2013, April 20). Virtual worlds in competitive contexts: Analyzing eSports consumer needs. Electron Markets, 23, 307-316.